Cutting right to the chase, Kyle Whittingham finally addressed the 2,000-pound gorilla in the corner after Thursday's scrimmage, stating that Brian Johnson will indeed redshirt the 2006 season.

"It's a conclusion that we came to last night," Whittingham said. "It's a medical decision, it's not performance driven. He had a nice camp, but he was getting sore, a little bit of swelling and just wasn't quite right. We said at the beginning, if he's not 100% right we aren't going to force the issue. We're not going to take any risks with his future."

Whittingham's proclamation didn't come as a surprise, since Tommy Grady and Brett Ratliff were the only quarterbacks on Thursday to get any time. They split the reps almost dead even, and now are in a head to head battle to earn the Utes' starting job on Sept. 2. Whittingham said that the decision on an actual No. 1 QB would be made as early as this weekend, but no later than following Tuesday's scrimmage.